Get Involved blog

Having just posted about Get Involved artwork appearing in a monograph of the work of the prolific British artist Jon Burgerman - I just remembered that more artwork created specially for Get Involved has also just been published… Nice!

I’m referring to the visual wizardry of a certain James Joyce of One Fine Day who created artwork for a Get Involved postcard (shown above) early last year. James created all the artwork and branding of two other club nights I’ve co-run with friends in the last few years, and artwork created for DJ collective It’s Bigger Than also appears in Postcard, a beautifully crafted tome (compiled and edited by FL@33) aimed at the coffee tables and carefully curated shelves of designers and image makers - and of course those that appreciate such things…

Ah, behold: the One Fine Day spread from Postcard showing a myriad flyer designs for It’s Bigger Than on the left hand page (three years worth of monthly flyers!) and on the right, shown at actual size in the book, is the Get Involved postcard that James designed a year ago.

Good work - and thank you, James!

To find out more about the Postcard book, visit http://www.postcard-book.info/

Good news for the serious 45 collector! UK-based company, Covers33, lovingly and faithfully create reproduction 45 sleeves. They have a whopping 228 different designs to choose from including classic house bags from Atco, Stax, Atlantic, Stateside, King, Columbia, Class, Imperial, Tamla, Motown and literally hundreds more labels. 41 pence is all it costs to give a special record the brand new sleeve it deserves. Go on, give your old gold treasures a treat! Visit www.covers33.co.uk

Mancunian design trio Central Station were responsible for creating some of the boldest and most memorable record sleeves of the 80s and 90s. Just as The Happy Mondays’ attitude and stage presence (not to mention the opening of The Haçienda, and the arrival of acid house and Ecstacy) heralded the arrival of a new chapter in Britain’s musical history, so Central Station’s legacy of colourful and energetic record sleeve designs for various Factory Records acts documents a simultaneous shift in graphic approach to music packaging. After studying design, the studio basically stuck two fingers up at Swiss minimalism and formal typography in favour of finding their own unique voice – one that was relevant to – and inspired by – the music…

A new exhibition of their work, entitled Faç Off, opens this Friday at Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. It will showcase much of the trio’s now iconic work for the likes of Happy Mondays, James and Black Grape – as well as a selection of non-commercially produced paintings and prints.

Faç Off is not only the title of Central Station’s forthcoming exhibition – it is a graphic they conjured up for a promotional T-shirt for Factory back in 1990. “I remember Tony[Wilson]’s reaction when he asked what we’d come up with,” says Central Station’s Karen Jackson. “We showed him, he looked at it and said, ‘Fac off. Brilliant!’”

To see more images and read a full profile on the studio, check out the piece in the May issue of Creative Review magazine or read it online on the Creative Review blog.

Faç Off runs from 16 May to 21 June at Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester. Limited edition screenprints will be available from richardgoodallgallery.com

James Joyce, of studio One Fine Day, designed the very first Get Involved poster. In fact, he’s designed several for us along the way and is one of our favourite image-makers in the whole world.

There’s a fantastic exhibition (his first solo gallery show) of his work up at the moment in London’s Kemistry Gallery that’s well worth a visit. A selection of wonderful limited edition signed and numbered prints are available to buy too. While stocks last!

See Creative Review blog for a more detailed post with more images.

Drawings And Other Objects is running until 14 June at London’s Kemistry Gallery, 43 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PD. +44 (0)20 7749 2766

Monograph is the free, monthly A5 publication that comes bundled with subscriber copies of Creative Review magazine. Each month, Monograph showcases a personal project or collection of creative work or inspirational objects and the latest issue, May 08, features 16 rare vintage seven-inch single record bags from the collection of Derek See (of Derek’s Daily 45 blog)

“45rpm records are my earliest love,” says Derek. “Given a bundle of them by both my mother and my uncle around the time I started walking, these small records with the big hole were an amazing source of wonder to me then, and continue to be the centre of my life to this very day. ”